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Ms
Wendy Stephen of Stonehaven complained that an article headlined ‘Dangers of
the MMR jab “covered up”’, published on 15 July 2007, was inaccurate and misleading.

Resolution:

The
complaint was resolved when the newspaper published the following letter from
the complainant:

‘As the parent of a 16-year-old daughter, who I believe was
left partially deaf as a result of MMR vaccination, I resent Lucy Johnson's
report which links longstanding, acknowledged, problems with the Urabe mumps
component, in an early version of the vaccine, with charges of serious
professional misconduct brought against Dr Andrew Wakefield by the General
Medical Council.

For
more than a decade, Dr Wakefield's speculations that the “measles” component in
MMR caused Autism became the only game in town during a now-discontinued class
action lawsuit, on which £15m of public money was spent. Far from championing
causes such as my daughter's associated with the Urabe mumps component, this
led to problems such as hers being buried from public view and denied access to
justice.

In November 1992, the government admitted a serious
problem relating to the mumps component and withdrew the triple vaccine. That
withdrawal was too late for my daughter, and no doubt many other children, who
experienced recognised, albeit rare, side-effects. To conflate this issue with
Dr Wakefield's issues is to continue the injustice’.